1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to prostheses and, more particularly, to a method of forming a prosthesis for fit to a specific body section.
2. Prior Art
Prostheses replace injured or destroyed body portions, and have become increasingly common, as well as complex. Although a certain amount of individual fitting is always required, prostheses typically accomodate a limited range of sizes, and the "fitting" process has generally focused on determining the largest standard prosthesis that is easily accomodated by the body section and creating an interface between the prosthesis and the body portion with which it is to work so as to accomodate the two. The interface is frequently subjected to high stresses, and commonly is a cause of discomfort and even malfunction.
The steady increase in available computer computational power has significantly improved prosthesis design. However, the improvement has largely been focused on creating universal designs which must then be interfaced to the selected body parts. The desirability of a user-specific (i.e., "customized") prosthesis has been recognized, but the difficulties in achieving this goal are considerable. Operations involving manual fitting, such as by using templates of the parts to be fitted and appropriately adjusting the templates, are laborious, subject to operator error, and not consistently repeatable in results. Fully automated processes would, therefore, be preferable, but the calculations involved for a prosthesis and body structure of any complexity are considerable, and may render the cost prohibitive.